First Lady of Uganda Shares on Leadership

February 15, 2013

Dorothy Kisaka, DAI Uganda Board Member, invited outstanding and celebrated Christian marketplace and government leaders to share their knowledge and wisdom gained from experiences in top leadership with emerging leaders at The Destiny Leadership EXPO. Some of those sharing the stage included The First Lady of Uganda Hon Janet Museveni, DAI Ministry Center Director Rev. Nicholas Wafula, and DAI MAOL graduate and CEO of Jubilee Dental Dr. James Magara.

Rev. Nicholas Wafula welcomes the First Lady to the Destiny Leadership EXPO.

The Observer, a Kampala newspaper, featured the event.

“The goal of the Leadership EXPO was to create ‘Paul-Timothy relationships’ through sharing experiences and lessons learned from the ‘Pauls’ as they engage in the business of leading the nation in various sectors,” says Dorothy.

“We combined short bible expositions by bible teachers with testimonials from highly respected Christian leaders in Uganda. The facilitators were a mixture of top government and market place leaders and they opened their hearts and shared real stories of day-to-day leading. They spoke on the call to leadership, challenges in leadership, and spirit-led leadership,” Dorothy continues, “many of the participants said they were greatly touched by the real stories and experiences shared by the speakers. And the facilitators demystified ‘leading at the top’.”

“We hope and pray many will aspire to be leaders at the top and not see government and politics as a place for non-Christians. We also pray that God will grant us wisdom on how to carry on this conversation in a way that continues to impact young emerging leaders,” says Dorothy.

Wisdom Shared

The First Lady, Hon Janet Museveni, urged leaders at the closure of the event to have reverence for God and to lead with integrity if they want to excel.

Participants were called upon to imitate Jesus Christ who offered to wash his disciples’ feet despite being their leader. A practice DAI talks about often and that is even depicted in our logo.

“Leadership comes in various capacities, but most importantly, when you find your place of service, you have found your place of leadership,” said Deputy Inspector General of government (designate) George Bamugemereire. No one is exempt from leadership because no-one is exempt from service.

“True leadership offers to perform tasks that no one else will do,” advised Dr. James Magara, CEO of Jubilee Dental and a graduate of DAI’s Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership.

The First Lady, Hon Janet Museveni, urged leaders at the closure of the event to have reverence for God and lead with integrity in order to excel in their roles.

Focus on Emerging Leaders

This three day leadership conference focused on emerging leaders. Dorothy says, “The concern we wanted to address was; preparing emerging leaders to step into national leadership as effective witnesses.” Of the 500 attending, the majority were young leaders.

Uganda today has a population of 34 Million people. 78% of Ugandans are below the age of 30 and 52% below 15. “That means,” clarifies Dorothy, “that the people who will be dominating the key areas of national leadership soon in all sectors are now below 30 years. With a population this young, leaders in Uganda have a great opportunity to mentor the next generation and the church can be a rallying place for all ages to be equipped for leadership. Its pulpit can be used effectively to ‘disciple the nation’ into godliness in belief and lifestyle.”

Modern Day Paul-Timothy Relationships

“We were very blessed to be hosted at Deliverance Church which is our mother church and to have Pastor Nicholas Wafula to attend all three days! His presence was a great encouragement to us because he is our spiritual father and he has always served as our advisor and mentor,” says Dorothy.

“My own leadership growth has benefited from my interactions with great leaders like Pastor Nicholas Wafula,” explains Dorothy, “and others who have demystified what leadership is all about. When a respected leader allows you to walk alongside them and you see what they do and how they do it, you become strengthened through this great affirmation act. My work on the DAI board and other boards has done that for me.

“Secondly when you have access to credible curriculum that is rooted in eternal truths, you learn and gain competencies for leadership which increase your confidence. Ever since I came into contact with the DAI curriculum in 2002, I have used it for my personal instruction for teaching in the various DAI programs and other leadership programs I am part of. I can say I have grown in many areas and I have an insatiable desire to share with others what I have learned and continue to learn in leadership.

“That is why am so passionate about events like the Destiny Leadership EXPO, it opens up opportunities for ‘Pauls’ and for ‘Timothys’. It gives us all an opportunity to validate and celebrate our outstanding leaders, while it gives them an opportunity to share their learning. Together we grow as a community, as a nation through this experience.”

About the Author: Dorothy Kisaka, DAI Uganda Board Member, current DAI Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership student, and Founder and Executive Director of Destiny Consult, organized Destiny Leadership EXPO as part of her work with Destiny Consult providing legal and leadership consulting services to individuals and organizations in Uganda. “All leadership comes from above and at Destiny Consult, we encourage leaders to practice spirit-led leadership,” says Dorothy. Her focus is to develop effective leaders of astounding character in order to build the nation of Uganda, not just advance the status of the individual. As the mission of Development Associates International fits closely to that of Destiny Consult, we have been and will remain close ministry partners.